Screwdriver



FRANK A. WALRTER, 0F PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY.

SCREWDRIVER.

Specification of Letters atent.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Application led May 29, 1920. Serial N0. 385,159.

To all ywhom it may cof/wem.'

Be it known that I, Il1 RANK A. WARTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident oi Ierth Amboy, county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Screwdrivers, of which the following is a speciification.

This invention relates to an improved screw driver which has a member slidable relative to the shank, which member, in normal position, interferes in no way with the normal use of the screw driver, but which member can be projected beyond the end of the screw driver and when released has fingers to bear on the rear Yface of the head of a screw to hold the screw, with its notched head, in engagement with the fiattened end of the screw driver so that the screw driver holds a screw, which is desirable, particularly in inaccessible places where the hand not employed by the screw driver cannot enter to hold the screw in place, especially during its initial rotation.

The invention is further designed to provide a device oi' this kind which is cheap and which is also very light, adding no material weight to the screw driver, and which can be easily attached to any screw driver, and which also has an advantage in that the resilient means can be easily replaced without trouble or expense.

The invention is illust-rated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side view of my improved form of screw driver. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the screw driver shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

The screw driver consists of the usual form of shank 10 with a flattened end 11 and a handle 12, which handle is usually made of wood. The slidable member consists of a U-shaped strip of resilient material, usually o round wire, which is formed, in a general way, similar to a large-sized hairpin, this U-shaped wire member having the arms 13 and 14 which project substantially parallel with the shank, the outer ends being provided with inwardly turned projections, this being usually accomplished by turning the ends of the wire in to form the fingers 15, these being seated preferably opposite the ilat sides of the outer end of the shank.

To hold the wire member in position I provide Aa sleeve 16 which embraces the when shank and has extensions 17 large enough to permit the passage of the wire arms, the Wire member at its closed end, that is, below the sleeve, being bent outward to form nger-piece 18, which not only limits the inward movement oi' the sleeve relative to the member, but also acts to insure the movement of the sleeve with the member when the finger-piece 18 is pushed outward by the thumb of the hand that grasps the handle.

Resilient means are provided for normally holding the member in its retreated position, one form of means, and this is the preferred form of means, comprising an elastic band 19. The elastic band is secured to the handle by any suitable means, but the usual way is to provide the handle with notches 20, which notches incline slightly inwardly toward the shank, and the band is seated in position in these notches and passes over the sleeve 16 and between the shank and the arms 13 and 14. The band is preferably crossed so that it assists in holding the member in position, that is, it insures the iingers 15 being held alongside the fiat end 11 of the shank 10, which position is preferable because it does not add materially to the width of the screw driver.

In full lines in the drawing I show the member in its retreated position, which permits the normal use of the screw driver. When, however, the member is to be put in position where it holds a screw on the end of the screw driver, the finger-piece 18 is pushed forward, which pushes the ends 15 beyond the end of the screw driver. `Then any suitable screw 21 is placed, with a slot in its head, on the end oi the shank, and when the pressure on the finger-piece is released the lingers 15 bear against the rear face of the head of the screw, as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 1, thus holding the screw in position so that it can be placed, by means of the screw driver, at the point where it is to be inserted, the tension of the resilient means, such as the elastic band, holding the screw with suicient firmness to insure its being positively positioned, but amanual pull rearward on the finger-piece 18 will pull the ends 15 from the head of the screw.

The arms 13 and 14 are preferably slightly corrugated, as at 21, so as to hold the sleeve 16 in position, even in the absence of the elastic band 19.

It will be evident that if the elastic band breaks and a new one is to be inserted, or if for any other reason the device is to be removed from the shank, when the wire member and the sleeve are slid from the end of the shank the sleeve can be easily slipped from the wire member and just as easily replaced, since without the interposition or' the shank the wire members can be freely moved inward to permit such movementA of the sleeve. By placing a new elastic band over the sleeve, sliding the sleeve over the member and then sliding these assembled parts on the shank 10, the loops of the elastic band can then be seated in the notches and the device is ready for use.

I claim:

l. A screw driver comprising a shank, a handle, a U-shaped member slidable on the shank and having its end inwardly turned to form fingers, a resilient means to yieldingly hold the member in its retreated position, and a .finger-piece projecting from the member and sliding therewith and adapted to rest on the handle to limit the rearward Vmovement of the member.

2. A screw driver comprising a shank, a handle, a U-shaped member with the ends of the arms bent to form inwardly turned ngers the closed end of the member being bent out to form a finger-piece and also adapted to engage the handle to limit the rearward movement of the member, the handle being notched, and an elastic band seated in the notches and in engagement with the member to hold it in retreated position.

3. A screw driver comprising a shank, a handle, a sleeve on the shank, a U-shaped wire member secured inthe sleeve, the arms of the member having their ends formed to provide inwardly extending projections, and an elastic band passing over thesleeve and secured to opposite sides of the handle, whereby the member is retreated and also held against turning.

e, A screw driver comprising a shank, a handle, a U-shaped wire member with its closed end bent outward to form a Engerpiece and the ends of the arms bent inward to form lingers, a sleeve embracing the shank and the arms adjacent to the fingerpiece, and an elastic band passing over the sleeve between the arms and the shank, the handle having notches in which the band is seated.

in testimony have hereto set May, 1920.

that i claim the foregoing, I my hand, this 28th day of FRANK A. WARTER. 

